head to head · open source
Docs vs poznote
Docs has 16,838 GitHub stars, 639 forks, 370 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. poznote has 852 stars, 35 forks, 19 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Docs leads on adoption by 1,876% (16,838 vs 852 stars). Docs is written in Python under MIT; poznote is written in JavaScript under MIT. Docs has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, poznote 4%. Docs was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (documentation), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Docs | poznote | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 17K | ★ 852 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 639 | ⑂ 35 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Docs if
- You weight community size — 17K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick poznote if
- You want the poznote feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and poznote fits your workflow better
About Docs
Docs is an open source collaborative text editor for creating, editing, and sharing documents in real time. It lives in the open source documentation and knowledge base ecosystem, and it is built with Django and React for web native use. The repository describes Docs as a web native editor made for teams that need clean documents and sub documents without surrendering data to a hosted service.
About poznote
Poznote is a free, self hosted, open source note taking web application for individuals, homelabs, and teams who want Notion , Obsidian , Evernote , or OneNote style notes running on hardware they control.
read the full poznote overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Docs or poznote more popular?
Docs has 16,838 GitHub stars and poznote has 852. Docs has the larger community by that measure.
Are Docs and poznote free?
Both are open source. Docs is licensed under MIT and poznote under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Docs and poznote?
Docs is written in Python and poznote in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Docs or poznote?
Choose Docs if you want the larger community (16,838 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose poznote if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.